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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300580">Summer's End Teaser</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JungleKiing/pseuds/JungleKiing'>JungleKiing</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Summer's End [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Frozen (Disney Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, F/F, Fantasy, Mentions of Blood, Spirit-Beast AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:13:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300580</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JungleKiing/pseuds/JungleKiing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They hadn't been seen in years. History dictated a brutal war. The victors never won. The books hold lies. They are not gone, merely slumbering and hiding. Unveil the beast for who they are, or die trying and set the course to fix the past. Bring back the order, or let world burn. Teaser. Fantasy/spirit-beast AU. Elsanna.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anna/Elsa (Disney)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Summer's End [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Summer's End Teaser</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>If there is something you think should be tagged, say so and it will be done.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The world appeared only white. Snow covered more and more the higher up one went until everything had been blanketed in snow and ice leaving nothing but white. The bitter-cold wind threw handfuls of snow in whichever direction it pleased, always moving always cold. The locals called this harsh constant winter covered rock, the North Mountain. Few folk and animals alike dared climb it's icy peak. To do so was considered a death sentence.</p><p>Through the snow covered trees, the expanse of ice and rock a spec of color could be seen. The purple cloak and green dress like a beacon in the white world. The wind would soon take care of that, sending bundles of the falling snow to cover the color. Only white could survive.</p><p>Yet despite the cold and the snow, the bundle of color trudged on, heading higher and higher up the mountain. Stumbling and slipping on ice and falling into pits of snow, but never faltering. Always moving forward and up. The wind paused in it's onslaught for only a moment.</p><p>Human, the color was human.</p><p>With her strawberry-blonde hair, or was it a red, and blue-or maybe green eye, the girl trudged on ward, expression set in grizzled determination. She would survive this trek. A feat not many can claim. The wind resumed it's whipping.</p><hr/><p><em>Great going, Anna!</em> <em>You somehow managed to get yourself lost on top of the North Mountain! The freaking </em>North Mountain!<em> How did I even end up here?</em></p><p>Anna huddled further into her cloak. It did little to stop the icy caress of the wind as it howled around, taking delight in the way she shivered and froze. Despite the momentary pause earlier, the wind came back full force and nearly sent her flying off the mountain face. Thankfully she did not end up falling down the mountain to meet and icy end. Her hat had not been so fortunate and now her ears were burning from the cold.</p><p>
  <em>Come on, just gotta find someplace to wait out the storm. Someplace to get warm and dry, maybe? Ah, just anything to get out of the stupid wind!</em>
</p><p>She cringed as snow blew into her face, the speed and cold making it sting as if tiny razors were sliding over her skin. With a huff of annoyance Anna moved to lean further into the rock wall on her right. The sheer drop on her left didn't scare her as much as the wind threatening to send her over it's edge. The closer she stayed to the solid rock, the better.</p><p>One step after the other, body shaking, desperate to keep any warmth within itself, Anna continued the climb. She didn't allow her brain to think. She knew the thoughts would only lead her down a path that would have her frozen to the side of the mountain. And icy statue for any experience climbers to find and tell her tale of woe. She scoffed.</p><p>The wind slowed and the vision cleared from the white, if only for a moment. That moment revealed a small indent in the side of the mountain. A cave, a shallow groove, Anna didn't care. It had the promise of shelter, and she would take whatever she could get.</p><p>"Legs move faster!" she growled at her own stiff limbs as she forced her feet through the snow at a renewed pace. She couldn't feel her feet really, and moving faster seemed almost impossible, but she made it.</p><p>Peering around the rock, Anna glanced inside. <em>Oh thank goodness it's an actual cave!</em> She let out a sigh of relief before taking a cautious step into the cave. She stared in the entry way, looking around for anything. The wind seemed to huff at her reluctance before throwing her inside with a mighty breeze and sealing her in the cave with the raging blizzard that seemed to be constant on the North Mountain.</p><p>"Sheesh, rude." She rolled her eyes and smiled. Inside was much warmer than outside without the wind chill, but not warm enough.</p><p>"Okay, Anna, you survived this far, now next step. Making fire to not freeze to death!" She pointed a mitten clad hand in the air.</p><p>Teal eyes scanned around the cave. <em>Rock, rock, ice, lot's of ice, piles of snow, more snow, ice,ice, large stick, more snow, more rock-wait! </em>Red-hair whipped around as she quickly turned back to the 'large stick'. She nearly squealed in joy at actually having some sort of wood in this cave. And decent sized too. She'd worry about how to set it on fire later.</p><p>Anna scampered over to the stick with new found swiftness in her frozen limps. The stick was large, about as thick as her forearm and nearly twice her height. It looked as if it were lodged in something beneath the mass of snow, or perhaps in the snow itself, but the way it sat angled up into the air suggested it wasn't stuck in simple the snow. A strange icy column rested beside the end high in the air.</p><p>The blueness of the ice seemed unreal as it shimmered and shined. There was no light in the cave, save for whatever glinted off the white snow, and yet the column sparkled as if made of a gem. It stuck to the ceiling wide at the top and and flowed over the roof of the cave almost like a wave of water had suddenly been frozen. From the thick top it descended like a large icicle before it thickened out again toward the bottom and disappeared into the layers of snow.</p><p><em>Beautiful.</em> Teal eyes stared at the column, lost in it's beauty before a hard shiver reminded her of her task. Shaking her self from the cold and away from the column,Anna refocused her attention on the large stick. She couldn't reach it from the ground, not even by jumping, despite her multiple attempts. Maybe approaching from the other side would help. She didn't feel like trampling through a pile of snow just yet.</p><p>Squaring her shoulders and straightening up, Anna turned and began to walk around the icy column to the other side where hopefully she could find a way to reach the stick. Her eyes glanced once again at the beautiful shimmering ice and failed to take notice of the lump on the floor. Her foot caught sending her tumbling into the snow dusted floor of ice. <em>Ice? I could have sworn it was stone.</em></p><p>A grumbling huff from behind, snapped her out of her thoughts. Another huff and snow was sent spraying away from the pile of snow by the stick. The lump she tripped on shifted, sweeping away the snow littered on the floor. Another huff, more rumbling, and the snow pile started to shake and fall. Anna was not alone in this cave.</p><p>Thinking quickly Anna looked around and located two rocks toward the back end of the cave. She quickly rushed over and ducked behind them, doing her damned best not to panic. She swallowed hard.</p><p>The snow shifted again as whatever laid beneath it rose to it's feet. The cave itself seemed to shift into a red hue before going back to the icy blue. The change happened to quick for Anna to be sure she even saw it. Ice splintered. The top of the column had shattered. Teal eye widened.</p><p>Huffing breaths of vapor pooling into the cool air, white fur, pale blue scales, claws as big as her forearm, teeth that could snap her in half. A velvety like wing folded carefully against the creatures side, deep-ocean blue eyes watching the movement carefully as if the wing itself might break in a single wrong move. The creature growled in irritation and adjusted the wing again. Only the left wing, Anna noticed. A sharp intake of breath.</p><p>There embedded between the left shoulder and wing was the large stick she had been trying to reach before. Only now Anna realized it wasn't a stick. It was a weapon of war, a mighty spear shot from giant crossbows mounted on high towers and movable battlements. A weapon to take down the most fearsome beasts. A weapon against the gods. Anna let out an involuntary shuddering exhale. She didn't just walk into a cave, no,no that would have been far too easy.</p><p>
  <em>You just had to walk into a Dragon's keep. You just had to Anna-ify things and wake it up too.</em>
</p><p>The mighty dragon whipped it's head around at the sound, staring in Anna's direction and she quickly ducked down, planting both mitten-covered hands over her mouth to prevent any sound from escaping. Deep-ocean eyes narrowed to slits and scanned over the back of the cave. A huff, and then another and Anna new the dragon was sniffing her out.</p><p>She shook and not from the cold as she waited and waited. The huffing stopped and there was a rumbled. A warning growl perhaps. And then movement behind her before all fell still. Anna waited yet still, hoping that maybe, just maybe the dragon had left in search of food. But that giant spear, the way it had been stuck and lodged in the beasts side. Would it even be able to fly?</p><p>The silence stretched and Anna slowly removed her hands from her mouth. <em>Just a quick peak.</em> She thought working up the nerve to look over the rocks she hid behind. All her movements stilled as a deep, growling voice spoke.</p><p>"There's no use in hiding if I know you're here."</p><p>The voice, was low, rumbling and rough. Almost exactly how you would expect an dragon to sound, with an added note of coldness to each word. No, this dragon was definitely not friendly.</p><p>"I can feel you shaking through my ice. I can ear your heart pounding, hear you erratic breathing. It's good to be afraid of me." The sound of shifting and claws on ice drew Anna to peer out over the rock.</p><p>The sight of the dragon pacing right by her hiding spot sent the girl scrambling back out of sight hands once more over he dragon was much, much bigger up close.</p><p>"Come out, before I lose my patience. I know where you are, and -" the dragon paused and Anna froze, "That's not a boulder you are hiding against." A huffing breath washed over Anna and she glanced over her shoulder to see that the snow had been blown off the 'rock'. A slit-shaped pupil peered at her through the ice chunk and Anna quickly jumped away and out of her hiding spot.</p><p>"There, that's better." The dragon seemed to purr as Anna scrambled backwards to put distance between them as the dragon took a few paces and settled almost gracefully into a dip in the floor.</p><p>When the dragon made no move to go after Anna or even threaten her, not that the mere presence of the beast wasn't threatening enough, Anna stopped. She stared right into the deep-ocean eyes and stopped moving, stopped breathing, just stopped.</p><p>"Why are you here." Not a question, a demand for her to speak.</p><p>Anna swallowed hard, and slowly moved to sit on her knees. Her mind raced with a billion thoughts, a billion questions, non of them working to answer the demand of the dragon. Anna opened her mouth to speak, a strangled sound, she tried again, yielding the same response.</p><p>The dragon snapped, obviously tired of waiting, "Why are you here!"</p><p>Anna whimpered, "Please."</p><p>The dragon's lip curled in a snarl, teeth gleaming in the icy light and the muscles rippled like water as the dragon stood, tail lashing.</p><p><em>"</em>I will not ask again!" the dragons sneered in disgust at the human kneeling in front.</p><p>"P-please, I only wanted someplace to warm up and wait out the storm." Anna managed to feebly stutter out. At least it was a response.</p><p>The dragon straightened up and towered over Anna's cowering form and seemed to laugh in distaste. "Ironic how you came here, searching for warmth and found the god of the cold and ice." fleck of spittle landed on Anna's face as the dragon practically spat the sentence out.</p><p>Anna felt tears roll down her cheeks and she stared at the ground. "Please." the word was barely a whisper, but the dragon still heard. The word echoing around the icy cave.</p><p>The beast's eyes narrowed and studied the girl before coming to a conclusion. The dragon relaxed once more and settled back down into the groove, careful of the left wing. "Tell me," the dragon rumbled out almost gently, "where do you hail from."</p><p>Anna sucked in a breath. "I'm staying in the valley town with - ."</p><p>"That is not what I asked." the dragon interrupted almost singing the words.</p><p>"A-arendelle. I'm Anna from Arendelle." she choked out limbs shaking viciously. Anna didn't know why she mentioned her name. The dragon, didn't ask.</p><p>The dragon hummed, eyes moving from Anna to glance at the blizzard outside. "Ah the little fjord town. Fitting."</p><p>That little comment stirred something in Anna, a little fire, and before she could stop herself the red-head found herself standing and glaring at the dragon. "It's not a just a town, it's a kingdom now! And I'm there princess!"</p><p>The dragon seemed to snort in amusement at her little outburst, a playful glint lighting in the reptilian eye.</p><p>"I see the cold did not entirely freeze your spirit. Good, you may yet make it out alive." the dragon seemed to smile, if that were possible. Anna tilted her head at that. She opened her mouth to ask what the dragon meant and closed it in thought. The words to ask were right there and yet she couldn't find them to ask what she wanted. Luckily the dragon spoke again before Anna could become a rambling mess trying to find the words she wanted.</p><p>"Tell me, Princess <em>Ah-na </em>of Arendelle<em>, </em>how did <em>you</em> end up <em>here</em> on the North Mountain. Didn't the good folk of that pitiful valley town teach you about this place."</p><p>Anna managed to find her voice in an instant and radiated joy as she started her response. "Well, I was on a date." her joy turned to a scowl as the memory progressed, "and not a very good one at that, with the Prince of the Southern Isles, Hans We-Oh, actually I think his family has business here or at least some history here. Wonder why I didn't realize that sooner." The dragon snorted at the red-head.</p><p>"Anyway," Anna drawled out dragging herself back to the point, "something happened and Hans suddenly left with his people and left me alone. And me being, well me, and not really knowing how to navigate a map, I tried to head back to the town, but wound up here." She finished gesturing to the cave with her hands before folding them behind her back and rocking back and forth gently awaiting the dragon's response.</p><p>A second passed, then a minute. Anna growing increasingly nervous the longer the longer the silence lasted.</p><p>"This Prince of the Southern Isles sounds less than ideal."</p><p>Anna let out a breath of relief and grinned. "Yeah, he's not the nicest guy out there, but he is a suitor and kingdom marriage benefits have me marrying him for the good of Arendelle."</p><p>Deep blue eyes studied the red-head for a moment before a chuffing growl echoed out as the dragon spoke. "I could simply eat him and remove this pest from the equation."</p><p>The remark took Anna off guard and she snorted in laughter before quickly covering her mouth." I'm not so sure that would sit well with his twelve siblings, or the Southern Isles itself, or even some of their various trading partners. Specifically the Weseltons, they favor Hans out of all the siblings."</p><p>The air itself seemed to freeze.</p><p>"Did you say Weselton?"</p><p>Anna didn't seem to notice the edge to the voice or the temperature dropping.</p><p>"Mhmm, the Weseltons and the Westerguards ha-"</p><p>Anna was cut off by a booming roar that shook the very mountain itself.</p><p>"Westerguards?!"</p><p>The ice pulsated and glowed changing from blue to gold as the mighty dragon rose up spitting curses in a tongue she couldn't understand.</p><p>"Y-yes," Anna stuttered out trying to stop herself from shaking in fear, "The Westerguards are the ruling m-monarch of the Southern Isles." Her teeth started chattering and she shivered finally noticing the frigid air no whipping about inside the cave. Anna ducked as a large scaly tail came swinging over her head.</p><p>The dragon paced in a circle in a frenzy, fear and anger battling one another as the beast clawed at the ice, pacing around. Puffs of hot breath leaked into the air in billows before the wind whisked them away, ocean-deep eyes unfocused and lost to another time, ice forming and melting around each step.</p><p>"How could I have been so foolish!" the dragon hissed out to themself. "How could I haven not recognized their scent rolling off you. I should have know!" Anna took a step back shielding her face from the onslaught of wind and ice combined. Cold pierced through her clothes as she found herself pressed against a wall of ice. A small whimper escaped her throat, too quiet to hear over the roaring of the beast.</p><p>Feral attention snapped to the little red-head cowering against the ice.</p><p>"You're in league with the Westerguards. You're working with the very people that tore my village apart, scattered my people, and tried to end me." The words were harsh and cold. The wind had stopped, ice suspended in the still air.</p><p>An eerie, menacing calm settled over the mountain.</p><p>"Tell me," the dragon's voice rumbled out like cracking ice. A beautiful, but terrifying sound. One wrong move and the mighty torrent would consume her. "Did they send you to trick me, to finish what they could not?"</p><p>Anna trembled and none of it was from the cold. She had no idea what the beast was talking about, had no clue what her fiance's family could have done to scare the beast and earn it's wrath. Slowly, with a shuddering breath the red-head straightened out her body and met the dragon's gaze. Her breath was shaky, arms shaking violently, but her sea-green eyes help firm. She shook her head slowly in answer to the dragon's question, knowing her voice would only come out as a faint squeak if she dared try to use it.</p><p>The dragon huffed and bared their teeth. The winter white-fur swayed as the beast reared up to stare down at Anna from their full height. Muscles rippled as and moved, snapped taught ready to strike. "No matter, this ends today. Starting with you."</p><p>Ice and frost slammed into the ice wall coating it in a fresh white substance. Anna didn't even think, didn't have time to think and just acted, rolling out of the way the second she saw the shift in the deep-ocean eyes.</p><p>This had all been some sort of amusement to the dragon. They had planned to end her from the second she stepped into this cave. Anna ducked behind a solid ice pillar and tried to steady her breathing.</p><p>The dragon hissed in annoyance upon realizing the ice had not encased the red-head. They lazily turned their head over to Anna's direction. "You cannot hide from me here, oh Anna of Arendelle. Accept your death and I will make it swift and painless."</p><p>The trembling throughout Anna's body stilled. Something in the voice - there was softness in the words, a promise, one that had been made before. An almost brokenness to it. Anna found herself no longer consumed by fear. Yes, it was still there, but it no longer held her firm in it's grasp.</p><p>"I'm not hiding." she found her voice. "I'm preserving my own life. Not hiding."</p><p>"You are just a pawn in their game. A game I intend to win by removing each and everyone of their pieces." The voice no longer held that gentleness, that promise. It shifted back to the cutting cold tone where the words fell like blocks of ice tumbling down a mountain.</p><p>Anna chanced a glance around the ice pillar only to come face to face with a gaping maw, ready to devour her whole.</p><p>"Icanremovethathingfromyourside!" she barked out rapidly without much thought. The dragon stilled it's advance, jaws snapping shut a hands-width away from Anna's own head. A puff of wet-warm air sent her hair swaying out behind her.</p><p>Sea-green eyes blinked open to find deep-ocean ones slit and staring right back, daring her to speak.</p><p>And She dared.</p><p>"The giant stick," she motioned toward the object stuck in the dragon's left side, "It's a large spear shot from mounted crossbows in battlements, yest?" Anna slowly moved from in front of the beast toward their side, examining and gesturing to the object. The beasts eye tracked her every movement, only the sound of air puffing out through nostrils in steadying breaths responded back. "I've some experience removing arrows from animals, of course nothing to this size, much less a dragon, but -."</p><p>Shaking her head, red-air waving at the motion, Anna stopped herself before she fell into another rant. The steeled herself and stared directly into the deep-ocean eyes still trained on her, still studying her. "I can remove it for you."</p><p>The beasts eyes narrowed, scanning her face, her body, her everything at those words. The black pupils slitted even further becoming almost indistinguishable from the deep-blue around it. Anna continued to stare right back. There was a shift in the coloring, a flash of light-icy blue swirled in the oceanic depths before vanishing once more. The dragon did not move. Eyes still scanning, still searching.</p><p>Anna gulped and found words tumbling out of her mouth before her mind could process that her mouth had been moving. "You haven't been able to fly since that got stuck there, right? I can get it out for you. Or you can just eat me now and have that thing stay lodged in your side."Anna paused for a second as her mouth began running down a new train of thought faster than her brain could comprehend it. "Of course you could just eat me after I remove the spear, but I'm not going to think about that and choose to trust you and hey if you do let me remove it and not eat me I can just run my butt back to Arendelle and you'll never have to see me again, or maybe you'd just come hunt me down after I got far enough away and you're able to fly again and-this-oh, this is just gonna end in my death either way isn't it?"</p><p>The dragon did not move an inch.</p><p>"Alright maybe I'll just leave and let you do what you do up here instead. Forget you ever saw me." Anna nervously chuckled and shuffled around the dragon heading for the cave entrance.</p><p>"Wait." It was not a request. It was a command and Anna stopped turning around slowly. The Dragon had shifted it's gaze studying the ice below, faintly growling as it seemed to battle with themself. Icy blue-clashed with the deep-ocean once again in the eyes before settling back peacefully to the deep-ocean blue.</p><p>Carefully the dragon moved and laid themself down gently to the icy floor extending the left wing up and securing the end to the roof of the cave with a blast of ice. Anna shuffled closer, understanding what she was to do.</p><p>The dragon lowered their head and gently blew onto the floor beside Anna's feet. A fresh pile of snow created itself before the fluffy dragon tail brushed it away to reveal a pristine blade of ice.</p><p>"That should be sharp enough to tear through my hide. You'll need it."</p><p>Anna picked up the blade.</p><p>It felt unreal, not of this world, like it was made of life itself. Perhaps it had been. The blade shimmered and glowed, almost pulsating with energy. Magic.</p><p>The light-blue sheen reflected light from within itself and despite being made of ice did not hold the chill one would expect. It felt lighter than a normal sword. Anna twisted it around experimentally. The blade would do well in battle, but. Anna glanced up at the spear lodged in the dragon's side and then back at the sword.</p><p>A white powdery wind surrounded the blade in Anna's hand followed by a huff from the dragon. When the wind dispersed the sword had been replaced with a short hunting knife. Anna glanced at the dragon with a brow raised. <em>Ice-magic and mind reader.</em> Anna decided that is what magic the beast possessed.</p><p>Letting out a steadying exhale, Anna approached the dragon, a platform of ice slowly raising her steps to she was level with the injury. Her fingers brushed the scaly texture of the dragon's skin. It was rough as expected and cold, but soft and alive. A glance up to the spine of the dragon had her wondering if the fur felt like dipping a hand into fresh fallen-snow, but that was a curiosity she would save for a later time.</p><p>Her fingers slowly run over the shoulder muscle and lightly up toward the wing, marveling at the strength underneath, before running down and back toward the injury. Anna stopped when her fingers brushed wood and gently pressed down. A grumbling growl rumbled through the dragon's body and into Anna's, but the beast laid perfectly still. Only the vibrating off the growl resounding through the beast chest remained even as Anna's prodding fingers pressed more firmly around the spear.</p><p>A steady hand raised the knife and slowly started lowering it when the dragon spoke, voice rumbling around in a sickeningly dangerous way. "Careful, Anna of Arendelle. One wrong move and you will end up as lame as I." Anna gulped at the threat.</p><p>Inhale. Exhale.</p><p>The knife was pressed lightly into the skin, just enough to penetrate the thick hide, but not into the flesh. The beat did not flinch, did not hiss. The blade shifted down cutting in a diagonal line on either side of the spear. Blood dripped out of the fresh cut, steaming as it rolled and fell down to the ice below, the droplets bouncing lightly on the fresh patches of snow before settling.</p><p>The dragon kept from moving, kept the muscles relaxed. Anna kept cutting. Hands quickly staining with the beasts blood.</p><hr/><p>Ice clattered to the red-stained floor and steps backed away slowly before the sound of wood and metal clattered with the ice. After an endless amount of time the spear had been extracted and the red-head hunched over panting.</p><p>"It's out. It's out."</p><p>Anna wiped her hands on her dress. Blood already stained it and a little more wouldn't matter. She turned and walked over to the cave wall before slumping down to relax, letting the coolness of it wash over her and sooth her tired and frazzled body.</p><p>The dragon didn't move, barely made a sound as Anna had worked until she had asked the dragon to flex the wing muscle. The pulsing flesh almost had Anna turning over to vomit, but a quiet hissing growl had settled her. Anna didn't falter for a second after that.</p><p>Claws scraping on ice caught Anna's attention and she cracked open an eye to see the dragon standing tall examining the wound. A pink tongue gave one smooth stroke over the cut before it the wound had glazed over in ice. Catching her gaze the dragon gave a deep bow of the head in thanks, but said nothing. Anna watched the swirl of blues in the eyes again before they narrowed darkening as the sky outside had done.</p><p>She had earned the dragon's respect. But not their trust.</p><p>The dragon walked to the cave entrance,, wing's carefully folded back. Sea-green eyes following the movement.</p><p>Wind whipped at the fur, lining the dragon's chest and spine, sending it dancing around as the chilly air swirled and spiraled almost in greeting. The beast sat, head lowered softly and tail curling around like a cat. The rumbling vibrations, Anna felt them through the ice, and knew the dragon was speaking, but not to her. She had grown to tired to care and shut her eyes again. The fear and intensity of the day had drained her almost vast supplies of energy.</p><p>The disbelief on her families face when she were to tell them made her lips quirk up in a smile. Yes, if she made it out alive, this would be a story to tell for generations.</p><p>Sleep came crawling in slowly. Anna could feel it, but would not give in to it. Surely, now the dragon would decide her fate. Eat her or cast her out into the night. She couldn't sleep, not until the beast decided. A cool breeze floated in and caressed her tired brow. The chill welcome and Anna felt herself relax more.</p><p>Sleep was winning now. Her exhaustion giving it an edge. The cool breeze aiding it along. The world had gone peacefully quiet.</p><p>Heavy, graceful steps alerted her to the dragon approaching. She cracked open an eye to see the beast bowing their head once more before her, watching her with icy-blue eyes. The wind outside picked up once again sealing the entrance off in a wall of white.</p><p>Sea-green eyes struggled to stay open, vision blurring.</p><p>"Sleep," the dragon spoke, voice falling gently in the quiet air, none like the grumbling roaring beast before, "I will ensure you do not freeze. Sleep."</p><p>Through fading vision, Anna would recount this moment, through the haze, through the cool wind, and eerie glow of the ice that the dragon before her was no beast, no angry spirit seeking vengeance for a past wrong, but a girl. A frail girl with moon-kissed skin and hair of snow. A kind girl, with frozen-eyes that watched her descend into sweet sleep. The beast watched from behind the girl, eyes dark and protective, wings drawn forward to shield the girl from any harm that Anna herself might bring. She would have chuckled if she had the energy. But Anna smiled peacefully as she let sleep win.</p><p>For what she had seen, she would remember and recall for the remainder of her life. The quiet end that would lead to new beginnings. The goddess of winter and blissful rest.</p>
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